The Nashville Sounds (66-54, 26-20) stayed hot with their third straight win thanks to a dominating performance from the pitching staff in a 3-1 triumph over the Gwinnett Stripers (55-65, 22-23) on Wednesday night at Coolray Field. Evan McKendry (10-4), Clayton Andrews, J.B. Bukauskas and Thyago Vieira (S, 6) combined to toss a one hitter in the victory.
McKendry and Gwinnett starter Darius Vines (2-2) dominated out of the gates, with both starters opening with five scoreless innings. Forrest Wall started the game with a single to lead off the night, but it would be the only hit Gwinnett would get all evening.
The top of the sixth looked like another quiet inning for Vines before Nashville’s two-out rally got them on the scoreboard. After a Cam Devanney single, Jesse Winker lined a double into the right field corner that allowed Devanney to score from first. Tyler Black followed with an RBI single that scored Winker from second and gave Nashville a two-run cushion. Devanney came through with another big hit in the eighth, this an RBI single that plated Jahmai Jones to make it 3-1.
Gwinnett would sneak a run across in the sixth inning, with Yolmer Sanchez scoring after a walk, stolen base and a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1 at the time. However, the Sounds bullpen took command over the final three innings. Andrews worked a 1-2-3 seventh inning and Bukauskas followed with a quiet eighth, allowing just a walk. Vieira nailed down his sixth save with three groundouts for Nashville’s first one-hitter of the season.
McKendry tossed his sixth quality start of the season and second with the Sounds in his fourth outing for Nashville. He struck out six with one hit and two walks allowed on 88 pitches (58 strikes). The win gave the Florida native his 10th win of the campaign, the most in the International League.
Winker led the offense in his second game on rehab assignment with Nashville, totaling three hits with a double, RBI and run scored. Devanney clubbed a couple of hits and an RBI, while Black and Keston Hiura kept their on-base streaks alive by each logging a single, respectively.
Right-hander Colin Rea (0-0, 2.25) will get the ball for the Sounds in game three of the series. He’ll face the southpaw Dylan Dodd (3-6, 7.41) who makes the start for Gwinnett. The first pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. CDT at Coolray Field.
Post-Game Notes
- Jesse Winker finished 3-for-4 with a run, double and RBI in his second game on the current Major league rehab assignment stint. He is batting .500 (4-for-8) over the two games. The recently turned 30-year-old has been on Milwaukee’s 10-day injured list since July 26 with back spasms.
- Keston Hiura extended his on-base streak to 19 games (since July 28) and hitting streak to nine games with a single. He’s batting .355 (27-for-76) with four doubles, seven homers, 23 RBI, 11 runs, a .405 on-base percentage and 1.089 OPS during the stretch.
- Tyler Black has reached base in all 15 Triple-A games played after his RBI single. Black has drawn 13 walks and scored 15 runs since getting promoted from Double-A Biloxi on August 6.
- Evan McKendry last gave up one-hit over 6.0 innings in a start on August 15, 2019 at Connecticut while with Hudson Valley in the New York-Penn League.
- Tonight was Nashville’s first one-hitter as a pitching staff in 2023. Their last one-hit performance was also against Gwinnett in game one of a doubleheader on August 11, 2022 at First Horizon Park. Though that game was scheduled for seven innings, Gwinnett won in nine innings. Their last one-hitter in a regularly scheduled nine-inning game came on May 23, 2021 vs. Gwinnett at First Horizon Park (W, 1-0).
The Nashville Sounds are the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers and play at First Horizon Park. Single-game tickets for the rest of the 2023 season are on sale now. For more information call 615-690-4487 or e-mail tickets@nashvillesounds.com.
